Various self-stabilizing UAV camera assemblies (also referred to herein as drone camera assemblies) exist. Typically, these UAV camera assemblies include a conventional drone with a gimbal rig and stereoscopic camera attached thereto. The stereoscopic camera is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art and includes two or more lenses with a separate film frame or image sensor for each lens. This allows the stereoscopic camera to simulate human binocular vision, and therefore gives it the ability to capture three-dimensional (3D) photo/video images. Stereoscopic cameras can therefore be used for making stereoscopic views and 3D pictures for movies, or for range imaging, for example. Panoramic images are typically achieved by combining, or “stitching” the images or movies from each of the lenses around the camera assembly to create a single image or movie for each of the stereoscopic views.
Disadvantageously, however, the cameras often capture an image of a portion of the obstructing support rig, and in some cases the operator. This portion of the image must be removed via post-processing and can cause problems for real-time visualization. Thus, what is still needed in the art is a self-stabilizing UAV camera assembly that is capable of taking/recording 360 degree×180 degree stereoscopic photo/video content without the use of an obstructing support rig. Preferably, a single signal is transmitted to the ground receiver. The present invention provides such a self-stabilizing spherical UAV camera assembly